Religion & Beliefs

Jewish singles are more Jewishly engaged than people think (but does the word ‘engaged’ in that sentence make any other singles nervous?). A new report by sociologists Steven Cohen and Ari Kelman has found that unmarried Jews in their twenties … Read More

Jewish singles are more Jewishly engaged than people think (but does the word ‘engaged’ in that sentence make any other singles nervous?). A new report by sociologists Steven Cohen and Ari Kelman has found that unmarried Jews in their twenties and thirties are plenty involved in Jewish life, with 42% of singles saying more than half of their friends are Jewish, and 51% saying they talk to their friends about “Jewish matters.” JTA

Josh Martin, an American Jew who went to help rebuild in Israel after the Lebanon war in 2006, made a second trip to help rebuild in Lebanon. He brought along a group of Christians, Jews, and Muslims to do service projects across the country, including an art project in a Palestinian refugee camp. JTA

A small library of rare and valuable Jewish books and manuscripts has been smuggled out of Iraq and into Israel. Some of the books are more than 600 years old, and had to be spirited out of Baghdad by Iraqi-born book dealer Mordechai Ben-Porat and his emissaries. Many of the books were being held in the Library of Congress in Washington DC, but they’ve all been returned to Israel. Jewschool

A Orthodox Jewish man at the center of a life support controversy died this week in Winnipeg. Samuel Golubchuk, 84, had been on life support for months, but his family did not want life support to be removed despite doctor’s recommendation to the contrary. Three doctors at Grace Hospital resigned as a result of the case, saying that keeping Golubchuk alive was akin to torture. Golubchuk’s children argues that halachically they were not allowed to do anything that might hasten their father’s death. Golubchuk died while on life support. Chronicle Herald

A Lebanese-born man being charged with supporting a terrorist group has asked that the Jewish judge assigned to his case recuse himself. Since Fawzi Mustapha Assi, 48, has already plead guilty to the charges, Judge Gerald E. Rosen refused the request, saying that Assi was “a little late.” Mercury News

An Israeli-Arab who lectures about the Holocaust at Palestinian refugee camps teaches that instead of denying the atrocities of World War II, Palestinians should recognize the loss of millions of Jews. If the Jewish people could survive losing 6 million, he explains, it will easily survive terrorist bombings and other attacks that kill 20-25. Instead of violent attacks, Palestinians should find other tactics. Haaretz

In Israel, an American Idol type competition is underway for the Haredi world. This one is called “Upcoming Voice,” only features men, restricts the judges from saying anything mean or embarrassing to the contestants, and is not shown on TV, since the Haredi world frowns on television. Instead, it’s distributed on CDs that members of the ultra-Orthodox world can watch on their home computers. Haaretz

In Tajikistan, the only synagogue is being demolished against the will of the community, to make way for the new presidential residence. Officials were going to let the Jewish community dismantle the synagogue themselves so as to maintain as much dignity for the space as possible, but when they weren’t progressing quickly enough, the Chief Engineer had the remaining wall bulldozed. Religious Intelligence